Back in the eighties when CDs first came on the market NOW That’s What I Call Music! compilations packed full of mega chart hits dominated the hit parade, so it’s no shock that a jukebox musical version is on the road.
We’re back in 1989 with Brummie best mates livewire April and sensible Gemma, who for some reason is in love with Jay Osmond, but years later like many intense teen friendships they have drifted apart until a school reunion. Shock, horror – it’s all soundtracked by the sort of middle of the road bangers featured on the NOW collections.
Pippa Evans’ slightly flabby book is full of eighties inspired gags, but she does cleverly weave the narrative from 1989 to the reunion, and then backwards and forwards. Evans makes some good points about the fragile nature of friendship, but like most jukebox musicals the plot is really a convenient way to get to the next hit, which to be fair is exactly what the audience have come along for.
Maia Hawkins making her stage debut is sassy as young April who heads off to Hollywood to be a star and delivers a wistfully exquisite Everybody Wants To Rule The World. Note Maia’s name as just like April she is destined to be a star. Never outmatched hit for hit Nikita Johal wins us over as Gemma, and the youngsters have more than enough chemistry to feel they are best mates.
Goodness Gracious Me legend Nina Wadia as older Gemma is the glue that holds it all together. It’s no surprise Wadia nails all her gags, but as the troubled nurse she adds more depth than most of the characters and has a strong voice on numbers like Up Where We Belong. Oddly Melissa Jacques, as older April, doesn’t pop up until a much edgier second half as dreams are thwarted and secrets are revealed. Jacques brings all her West End chops with a witty performance absolutely smashing out a massive Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves, and a lively Relight my Fire with the ensemble. Each half could have done with shaving a couple of hits, and the highlight was a moving version of Hold Me Now as Wadia and Jacques duet with their younger naive selves.
In a very experienced cast, Luke Latchman and Shakil Hussain are great fun as the different versions of Gemma’s hapless brother Frank. In contrast Blake Tuke and Chris Williamson run riot as Gemma’s sleazy yuppie husband.
What makes this jukebox musical a bit different is a nightly cameo from a seventies or eighties pop star, and tonight we are joined by the aforementioned Jay Osmond from the famous singing Mormons. For a man nearing his seventh decade he is still really light on his feet nailing the Osmond’s iconic dance moves as he plays the Teen Angel role belting out a rousing version of their still splendid hit Crazy Horses, and many of the audience will have bought that single first time round from their local Our Price.
Tom Rogers and Toots Butcher’s versatile set switches from a seedy Birmingham boozer to a video shop, which was a nice eighties touch, and their period costumes full of polyester and hairspray are onstage fire hazards, but you do wonder what on earth fashion designers were on back then. Craig Revel Horwood’s direction and choreography is typically snappy and imaginative, as he adds a tango to Tainted Love. If we weren’t over the top enough, he throws in a delicious eighties dance megamix, including the Dirty Dancing lift. FAB-U-LOUS.
This isn’t Chekhov, nor is it pretending to be, but if ever bought a NOW compilation, crimped your hair, sang into a brush in your bedroom, wore a shell suit or played air guitar to Dire Straits with a tennis racquet then this nostalgia fest is a cosy trip down memory lane.
Now That’s What I Call A Musical is at Bradford Alhambra until Saturday 19th October. To book 01274 432000 or www.bradford-theatres.co.uk
Reviewer: Paul Clarke
Reviewed: 15th October 2024
North West End UK Rating: